CD Reviews - Artists - L

Vocalese jazz is not my thing, I guess.
I'd rather hear the original instruments than vocal/lyrical
interpretations of them. But I find myself getting into this.
And alternately annoyed. It's very clever putting lyrics like a
quickly spoken "...carrots and you make a very good stew" into
"Cottontail". And the lyrics about green beans in the song
"Farmer's Market" crack me up! "Going to
Chicago" (75 BPM) with Basie/Joe Williams also sounds kind of
cool. The three singers are good, the backing bands good, and the
music is good jazz. Songs were recorded from 1957 to 1961.
This CD is more for listening than for dancing.

OK, here's another modern blues artist I already
had a CD from that I discovered has a couple songs that can be Lindyed
to. They swing at 125 and 130 BPM. I'm not quite sure why I'm
reviewing these fringe albums, but make of them what you will. This
kid has a great future.

Julia Lee's music is defined as R&B, but
like Louis Jordan, most of the songs have a very jazzy feel. For
example, in the title track there's a series of short trumpet, saxophone
and jazz guitar solos. All the songs are based on the 12-bar blues
pattern, and all of them swing. Her voice is strong and solid. The
backing musicians vary song to song, but are all excellent. The
playing is much more creative than many of the R&B CDs I own. There's
none of the heavy beat and simple guitar and saxophone solos.
Julia's Lee style reminds me somewhat of Nellie Lutcher, who I also like a
lot. Many of Lee's song lyrics are suggestive, filled with
double-entendre's or even more obvious sexual references. Its
amazing they could get away with singing such songs in 1944 to 1949!
Songs like "I Didn't Like It the First Time" (162 BPM), "My
Man Stands Out" (162 BPM), and "Don't Come Too Soon" (126
BPM) have to be heard to be believed. Tempos range from very slow to
230 BPM. I already had the excellent "Come On Over to My
House" (144 BPM) and "King Sized Papa" (152 BPM) on other
collections.

This is a sweet little delight of a jazz
album. A short 35 minutes of mellow jazz vocals with a small group
as backup, featuring Dave Barbour on guitar. This reminds me of the
excellent Maxine Sullivan Tribute to Andy Razoff album, but this
one is even more mellow. Peggy Lee was famous for her many
novelty songs, but she also was an excellent jazz singer, as this
collection so clearly shows. Recorded in 1946 to 1948 for radio
performances and never intended for commercial release, these songs were
recently selected by Peggy Lee herself for inclusion in this
collection. Half of the songs are slow songs, but others range up to
165 BPM. Great sound quality. I like "Somebody Loves
Me" (143 BPM), "I Ain't Got Nobody" (143 BPM), and
"Goody Goody" (139 BPM). And everything is so
well-done. Her voice has so much feeling as it slides like silk on
the melody line over the swingin rhythm. Great jazz guitar work in some of
the instrumental choruses by Dave Barbour. This collection isn't going to
appeal to many swing dancers due to its mellow feel and light beat, but
its got a great feel for late at night, and for pure listening enjoyment,
it is hard to top.

This CD of rare Peggy Lee songs has
some good stuff as well as plenty of fluff. I like the leadoff song
"Every Night" (143 BPM) even though its kinda cheesy.
There's lots of even cheesier slow ballads on this collection. But
there's a number of songs with tempos from 117 to 155 BPM. There's
an interesting vocal version of "All the Cats Join In" (155
BPM).

Lewis is famous for his 1966 grammy award
winning recording: "The In Crowd". This collection
includes the title song from that album and many other excellent songs,
all based around a trio of piano, bass and drums with some songs with
brass. The songs range from jazz to ballads to pop. He does
funky-pop piano treatments of several pop songs like "Hang On
Sloopy" and "A Hard Day's Night". The songs aren't
always strictly jazz, they don't always swing, but they are very
listenable. For dancing, "The In Crowd" (141 BPM) is an
infectious live song that isn't a strict straight swinging song, but its
so good, you can't help but dance. It has great loud and soft
dynamics, clapping, and cheering. "Here Tis" (128 BPM) and
"Wade In the Water" (129 BPM) are also excellent.

More great piano jazz from the Ramsey Lewis
trio. This is a CD with selections from three of Lewis' earliest CDs
from 1956 to 1959. From what I read, he turned to pop later in his
life, but this CD is jazz, but very accessible jazz. He songs really
tell a story. He uses dynamics, tempo changes, solos, and changes of
styles to create and change moods. I really enjoy listening to
this CD. These songs are not just vehicles for soloing, they are
real songs. Great treatments of "Be Mir Bist Du Schoen",
and "I'll Remember April". The song "Delilah"
changes so many delightful ways--from moody dirge to a latin rhythm, to a
swing rhythm. For dancing, "Dee's New Blues" (161 BPM) grooves
well, but its pretty quiet. "C.C. Rider" (181 BPM) is also
good. Eldee Young on Bass and Isaac "Red" Hold on drums
are excellent. Highly recommended for jazz piano aficionados.

This swing and blues band is from
Maine, on the opposite corner of the country from where I'm writing
from--San Diego. Its unlikely our paths will cross, but if they did,
I'd try to catch one of their shows. Although clearly low-budget,
this isn't a bad CD, and the songs are well-executed and there's a good
variety of song styles and tempos. I admire that this CD features
mostly originals. But its hard to write good originals. There
aren't a lot of interesting or unexpected melodies or solos to capture
this jaded reviewers attention and convince me to spin it a second
time. Just having the saxophone and guitar play the same riffs over
and over again simultaneously isn't enough. My favorite songs are
the non-originals, particularly "Fan It" (112 BPM) with its
interesting fiddle and clarinet interplay. See their site: www.lexandjoe.com
.

Along with brother Joe, Jimmy Liggins played
simple R&B. A few of his songs were covered by the Mighty Blue
Kings and the covers are much better than the originals. I'm not
crazy about Jimmy's voice, and the band adds little. Songs were
recorded 1947 to 1951 and are all unimaginitive12-bar blues. There's
some great Jimmy Liggins songs on the Jumpin' Like Mad compilation,
but they aren't on this compilation! Also, Roy Milton is much
better.

I've bought a few CDs by the
classic R&B artists, and although I do like this album, as I like the
others, I can't really recommend it. Buy the R&B compilations
instead, or Ella Mae Morse. 25 songs by one person is too
much. These songs were recorded between 1950 and 1954. This
saxophone & piano boogie woogie and blues band plays songs at various
tempos: 11 songs from 85 to 110 BPM, 7 from 125 to 160 BPM, the rest
faster. I like "One Sweet Letter" (150 BPM).

This tribute to Duke Ellington is
fantastic. These songs were recorded live at Lincoln Center in NYC
in conjunction with the recording of a PBS documentary about Duke
Ellington. The documentary is great, with a lot of TV time spent
watching the band playing Ellington songs. During a few of the
songs, you can watch Frankie Manning smiling his huge smile, and dancing
with a few other lucky souls. The band is awesome.
Totally. They reinterpret old Ellington classics, making them new
again. Incredible solos. A total contrast from the typical
bands I've been reviewing here. Some of the songs on this CD are too
slow or jazzy to dance to, but the ones that can be danced to are really
hot. They include a great "C-Jam Blues" (145 BPM), and
"Bli Blip" (130 BPM). These are extremely popular songs
among most swing dancers. You can hear the dancing and cheering
during C-Jam Blues. You feel like you are right there with
Frankie. Danceable jazz swing at its best. This is a Ron's
recommended essential swing CD.

Yes, this is weird. It has
John Lithgow (star of the zany TV show "Third Rock from the
Sun") singing children's songs. Not something the average swing
dancer would normally be interested in. But this isn't like the
typical lame children's CD like the one my sister recently bought for our
nephew that featured lame singers with a lame accordian. This
features Bill Elliott Orchestra on most of the songs! The songs are
engaging and Bill Elliott's group is as tight as usual. Not all the
songs swing, but the ones that do include a remake of Calloway's
"Everyone Eats When They Come to My House" (160 BPM),
"A - You're Adorable" (128 BPM) and "You Gotta Have
Skin" (129 BPM). This CD really cracks me up. Buy it for
your niece or nephew and teach her or him to swing dance!

Fun early rock and roll! Songs were recorded
1955 to 1957. Little Richard puts out so much energy into his
singing, he's practically screaming. Most of the songs don't have a
swing or even a shuffle rhythm, but you can still swing dance to most of
them. These are extremely simple songs. I like "Slippin
and Slidin" (181 BPM) and "Tutti Frutti" (192 BPM) and
"Rip it Up" (197 BPM).

Swing from Sweden! The lead
singer has a delightfully funky voice. I can't describe it, but its
totally distinctive. In a good way. This is a true dancers
band. They played at Herrang dance camp this year. The CD
liner notes includes "t/m", but whatever that is, multiply it by
4 to get to BPM. Besides Jennie, the band is Hasse on
"trummor", Olle on "bas", Lennart on
"piano", Klas on "gitarr", Tommy on
"klarinett", Fredrik on "trumpet", Bjorn on
"tenorsaxofon". This band is great. I love the
acoustic guitar putting down the steady rhythm. Great tenor
saxophone solos. The various instruments trade off solos and each
solo is sweeter than the last. Everything is perfectly
balanced. I particularly like "Sugar" (126 BPM), and
"Mean to Me" (114 BPM). The tempos of the songs are
clustered at 85-100 BPM (5 songs), 109 to 126 BPM (3 songs), 165 to 200
BPM (6 songs). The songs are covers. Good covers. Fun jazz
songs, not a blues chord progression among them. The Swedes sure
know how to swing. But, no worries, the vocals are all in
English. Want to buy this great CD? Go to Sweden, or
contact jennie@lobel.nu.

This second CD from this great Swedish band is
full of great, classic swinging songs by Moten, Ellington, Irving Berlin
and others. This band's sound is so distinctive. Unlike most
current swing bands, they don't blast you with power, but entice you with
sweet vocals, light clarinet and piano melodies. This band's sound
is light and sharp and tight. Each song is anchored by the steady
rhythm of that rhythm guitar and brushes on the drums. All the
instruments melodies sound so much more swinging over that steady
rhtyhm. It gives the music, even the slower songs, a fun bounce
characteristic of 30's music. A song that I've heard a million
times, "Moten Swing" (151 BPM) becomes a new song. And
listen to the clarinet in "He's Funny that Way" (92 BPM).
This is a true dancers band, the BPM of the songs are listed in the liner
notes. Most of the songs are vocals. Jennie Lobel's voice defies
description, but its a little like Billy Holliday or Katherine Whalen from
the Squirrel Nut Zippers. Its delightful. The music
arrangements are clever and seem perfect for the band's instruments.
The tempos of the 16 songs are all over, but there's a lot from 92 to 120
and a cluster at 180 BPM. Besides Moten Swing, my favorite for
dancing is probably "Love Me or Leave Me" (127 BPM). Want
to buy this great CD? Go to Sweden, or contact jennie@lobel.nu.

From Atlanta. I love these guys. The
lead singer Amy Pike has a lovely voice. This is a four-person band,
playing mostly original songs, all of which swing really well. A
saxophone makes an occasional appearance, sounding excellent when it does,
but mostly this is a guitar/bass/drum/vocals band. They
really have an original sound. Kind of rockabilly-ish. A very
mellow guitar sound. Tempos are moderate, 7 of 15 are from 145 to
155 BPM! Songs are short. A lot of these swing albums I don't
really listen to, I just mine them for good songs. This one I listen
to.

The first half of this album contains really
sweet slow big band jazz songs. Then he's back to country songs,
alas. I love the slow song "Cryin' Shame" (90 BPM).
His singing is of course, so cool, and his band, top-rate.

This is a collection of songs that Lyle Lovett
recorded for movie soundtracks. A few of them are jazz standards
suitable for dancing to, like "Straighten Up and Fly Right" (152
BPM). The musicianship is excellent. His version of
"Blue Skies" bites.

This is the 2nd CD by this jump-blues band out
of San Francisco. The band centers on a piano, guitar and lots of
sax. I like lots of sax. The songs are mostly
originals, with the vocals shared by Steve Lucky and Carmen Getit.
They remind me of the Mighty Blue Kings, a bit. I like "Ain't
Gonna Quit Ya" (125 BPM) and "Bye Bye Baby" (160 BPM) a
lot. Six of 13 songs are >180 BPM. Whew. They also
have too many songs based on the classic 12-bar blues pattern. This
is a Ron's recommended essential swing CD.

Despite being recorded from 1934 to
1937, like the other Swingsation CDs, they sound much better than you'd
expect. Lunceford is great for dancing because he has interesting
songs. According to the liner notes, Lunceford's shows were known
for humor and silliness. Many of the songs themselves are quite
creative and playful. Lots of breaks and syncopations. I'm going to have
to listen to this a lot to really take it in. I like the Hi-Fi
version of "For Dancer's Only" (160 BPM) that is on the
Oscillatin' Rhythm compilation CD better, but in either form, its a great
song. I also like "He Ain't Got Rhythm" (184 BPM) and a
number of others. Lots of these songs have vocals, but like many
big-band songs from that era, the vocalist is secondary to the band, and
often doesn't start singing until half-way through the song! If you
ever thought all big-band music sounded the same, compare Lunceford to
Miller to Hampton to Krupa and realize how different they really
are.

My favorite song of hers on this CD is
"Fine Brown Frame" (122 BPM) that I found originally on the
excellent Jumpin Like Mad compilation. If you liked that song
or that collection, you might also like this collection. Her vocal
style is interesting. She exaggerates her pronunciation and uses
lots of jive expressions. Per the liner notes, she's
"lighthearted, (the) Princess of Hep". This is groovy
R&B, recorded 1947 to 1951. But its mellow R&B, and the band
is small: just piano, drums, bass and guitar. Her voice swings as
hard as the band. Tempos of the 21 songs are all over. There's
so many good songs on here, like "Come and Get It Honey" (146
BPM) and "Kinda Blue And Low" (115 BPM).